Embracing Trust: Cut
by Crystal Remnant
Summary: [Includes cut scenes from 'Embracing Trust'][Stand Alone story] Maddie Fenton discovers Danny’s secret in a most unusual way...


**A/N: **hey guys, quick note: Along with the 'What If' Chapter 3 of Embracing Trust, I've also decided to post deleted scenes from the actual chapter I'm going to post. The chapter was too long, and even after I cut a few thousand words it was still really long. So, here are the choice cuts and Chapter 3. Enjoy!

* * *

Tucker sighed and played with the rubber grips on the wheelchair handles. Danny, who was stuck in the chair, seemed just as bored as Tucker. At one stage both had been so bored they began hitting each other, but Sam had caught them and smacked the PDA loving teen across the face, telling him that Danny was already in enough pain as it was. Danny had stuck up for him, telling Sam that it wasn't Tucker's fault entirely, that he'd in fact, been part of it too.

The glare he got could've melted through the thickest ice-burg.

And for the last ten minutes, they'd been sitting in the same place while waiting for the release forms that would allow Danny his freedom. This time, the blue eyed teen sighed and shifted in his wheelchair, making it creak under the strain. Tucker watched as Danny started getting frustrated quickly with his predicament, and groaning when the nurse at the front counter told his parents the forms would be another two minutes.

A 'ding' from the elevator caught their attention, and a nurse with a man in a wheelchair stepped out.

"Hey, how about seeing how fast this thing can go?" The man asked, looking up at the nurse.

She grunted, "How about 'no,' Mr. Lethem?"

"Aw c'mon, sweet cheeks?"

"No."

Tucker glanced at Danny who had the same feral grin as he did. "You up for it?"

"You know it!"

Danny watched his parents as Tucker began to maneuver the wheelchair down the hall and out of sight. As soon as they'd reached the person-free hallway, Tucker began running and Danny threw his hands up in the air with a triumphant shout.

"This rules!"

Back down the hall, at the nurse's desk, Maddie turned to the now empty spot that Tucker and Danny had been in when she heard Danny shout. She blinked a few times, and hearing the shouts growing fainter, she instantly pieced two and two together.

"DANIEL FENTON! GET BACK HERE!"

However, the friends were having too much fun and while in their need-for-speed stupors, failed to hear anything. That included when one intern told them to stop immediately, and another yelled at them something about a broken door. Skidding at a sharp angle around a corner, both saw the sliding door and the ramp just beyond it. Seeing an opportunity to gain some speed, Tucker ran ahead to make sure the door opened.

That's where it all went wrong.

The door didn't open, and by the time Tucker had figured out what was going on, Danny's wheelchair slammed into him, sending them both through the glass door with a loud 'smash.' Interns, nurses and Doctors alike rushed out to them, making sure they were alright. Danny (who'd been tossed out of the chair and onto the gravel parking lot), with the help of one Doctor, sat up while clutching a furiously bleeding elbow with one hand, and grasping his aching leg in the other. Plucking out a piece of glass, the Doctor told him it would need stitches with a few other cuts while Tucker, who was laying it on thick, managed a sprained wrist and miniscule cuts up his arms.

And while they sat in the GP's office, both grinned at each other and replied in unison; "So worth it."

* * *

Danny had managed to grab Sam's MP3 player after falling off his bed, and was now happily sorting through her songs, vocalizing his opinion as he went through them. Tucker was sitting at the edge of his bed, helping himself to the hospital food and typing a new schedule for Danny on his PDA. Suddenly, Danny burst out laughing and Tucker jumped out of his skin at the loud noise. Seeing his best friend jump, however, only made Danny laugh harder.

"Dude, what's with you?" Tucker asked, straightening his glasses.

Danny, instead of answering, simply held the display screen up for Tucker to see. Said best friend's eyebrows shot up as the fluorescent blue letter indicated that it was, in fact, a Justin Timberlake song on Samantha 'Goth' Manson's music player.

"You've got to be kidding me!?"

"Nope! Listen for yourself!" Danny said, offering one of the individual headphones to him. Leaning over, Tucker couldn't help but laughing as the alto voice began to sing. They only laughed harder as the song went on, and it was inevitable that the two started singing along. Horribly off key, and no where near the right pitch, Tucker sang first. Danny, who was slightly (but not by much) better provided back up for him.

"I'm bringing sexy back!"

"Them other boys don't know how to act!"

They continued on like that until the end of the song, and they both couldn't stop laughing. Tucker fell off the bed he was laughing so hard, and Danny kicked his legs. He winced however, as a jolt of plain shot up his leg when he accidentally knocked it against the railing of the hospital bed.

"Exactly the reason you shouldn't work yourself into such a frenzy, Mr. Fenton."

Both froze and looked over to the door in shock-horror. Standing there was none other than Mr. Lancer, giving them both odd looks. "If you like his music so much, I suggest that you buy tickets to his concert," The older man said, walking into the room.

"You were there?"

"Only long enough to catch the bridge, Mr. Foley," He replied, holding out a pile of sheets towards Danny. "You're mother called," He explained, "And since you are now up and about, I thought it would be and excellent idea for you to start catching up. I hope to see you in a week, Mr. Fenton. And Mr. Foley? I recommend singing classes."

With that said their teacher walked briskly out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"That so did-"

"-not just happen!"

Down the hall, Mr. Lancer sighed and tried to get the sound of Tucker Foley singing in his head. "Two Peas in an Idiot Pod."

* * *

Embracing Trust, Chapter 3:

Truth/Revelations

Maddie Fenton admitted with a sigh that she was getting older. She wasn't _old_, per say, but she was most definitely coming along. Both of her children were married, and she now had a beautiful Grandson, James Andrew Fenton, to love and adore. Jazz had picked a loving husband and they lived on the West Coast, while Sam and Danny both remained in Amity, deciding that their now year and a half old son should be around his grandparents.

Danny Phantom had also stayed around Amity, protecting it from the rare and occasional Ghost. Ever since the night down in the lab where he'd come and asked for help, her mind had subconsciously begun to match his traits with Danny's. The way he acted, the way he talked, his mannerisms… However, Maddie convinced herself there was no hard evidence telling her that her Danny was Phantom. Danny had a family now, though, and the possibility that he was Phantom grew weaker every day, while Jamie grew bigger.

Maddie wasn't at all surprised to see Jamie had black hair, the first time she saw him. She was a little shocked, however, to see that her grandson had one blue eye and one green eye. The doctor explained that it was rare to have a child with two different coloured eyes, but Danny had smiled and said it would just make him that much more appealing to the ladies once he was old enough. Sam was also ecstatic about her son's individuality for obvious reasons.

It wasn't often that she got to baby-sit her grandson – Tucker took being a Godfather to the extremes. He visited his Godson everyday, usually with some sort of sugar, and always spent one day a week with the appropriately dubbed 'Little Monster.' He had his mother's sense of adventure, and his father's knack for getting into trouble. A good example of the genetic trait was when young Jamie, only just able to crawl, decided to see if he could jam his favourite stuffed animal into a DVD player.

Danny argued later that it wasn't Jamie's fault; his son didn't know that he could set it on fire, or what fire even was. Maddie comforted his son knowingly. He hadn't been much better when he was a baby; jamming pieces of fruit into VCRs, painting the walls, destroying his sister's things…

"Dada!"

Maddie looked up from her research notes to see that Jamie was standing in his playpen, pointing to a picture on the mantle. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face when she saw the photo he was pointing to. It was taken when Danny was nine years old with his father, both on a fishing trip. She was a little surprised to see that Jamie, at such a young age, could recognize his father. Standing, she made her way towards the mantle and picked up the picture next to it – a heavily pregnant Sam and Danny with his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Dada!" The baby squealed again, happily clapping along.

Maddie looked through the pictures on the mantle and then smiled. She gathered the photos into her arms and set them down on a small coffee table where her most recent research notes were. Kneeling near the infant, she held up a picture to him. "Who's this, Jamie?" She asked, holding up a picture of Sam.

"Mama!"

She smiled brightly and kissed her son's forehead.

"Who's this?" She asked, holding up a picture of Jazz.

"Aun Ja!" He said happily.

That time, Maddie clapped along with him. She reached back blindly for another photo. Instead of grabbing one, however, she grabbed a picture from one of her Ghost files. She held it up to the small baby and he instantly replied; "Cwoc-Wok!"

She blinked a few times in confusion, but when she looked at the picture, it was indeed a picture of the time controlling Ghost, Clockwork. A little disturbed about how her grandchild knew about such a Ghost (she made a mental note to talk to Danny about it), she eventually shrugged it off and held up another picture from her file, curious about how much Jamie knew. He clapped and when he saw the picture, he squealed in delight, "Cu-oh!"

Again he was right – it was a picture of a Ghost dog that had a habit of following Phantom around. Suddenly, and idea came to mind and she searched for the right picture. If her theory was correct, than that meant that Danny regularly had one particular Ghost over - Phantom. Coming across a few other pictures, she piled them up, and when she was done, she turned back to her grandson who was sucking on his fingers.

She held up a picture to him and he giggled, he didn't need coaxing anymore.

"Foos-bi!"

_Frostbite. _

Another picture; "Dada!"

It was Danny.

"Suwer!"

_Skulker. _

"Aun Da_ni_," He said the last part of her name with some difficulty.

It was, in fact, Danielle Phantom – a female version of Danny Phantom. Her eyebrows shot up at the mention of 'Aunt', but not disheartened by her new discovery, she held up another picture to her grandson, who by now thought they were playing a game.

"Ganpa!"

It was a picture of Jack.

"Emba!"

_Ember. _

"Pa-mi-uf!"

Oddly enough, it was a picture of one of her oldest friends, Vlad Masters. A little confused, she held up the last picture. She was curious to see what nickname Jamie had learned for Phantom, or if the Ghost was around long enough to have a nickname. From what he'd used before, she guessed it would be something like: 'Uncle', 'Pan-om', or-

"Dada!"

Well, that blew her theory out of the water.


End file.
